1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for using hand held devices as mobile messaging terminal systems, and more particularly messaging systems incorporating many different message types and functions resident on a hand held platform.
2. Background Information
There has been an explosion in the use of hand held personal assistants (PDA'S), cell phones, mobile laptop and fixed computer hardware connected in various ways to cellular (voice) networks and the Internet for email and other information. Cellular networks include analog and digital types and the digital types include a number of different types and protocols.
For the digital cellular networks the more popular systems and protocols include TDMA (time division multiple access), GSM (Global System for Mobil—a TDMA system), CDMA (code division multiple access) and others that are evolving. Analog and digital mobile communication systems well known in the art are covered in many publications. One early book that describes the fundamentals is Mobile Cellular Telecommunications, authored by William C. Y. Lee, published by McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1995, especially chapters 14-17.
Known cell phone devices typically have displays, keyboards, batteries, computing processors, wireless communications, I/O (input/output) connections, software operating systems, I/O drivers and applications to extract information from data framed by different protocols. Typically the I/O includes hardware serial ports connections to laptops or personal computer systems.
For example, U.S. patent application publication no. US2002/0129107 A1 to Loughran et al. (Loughran) describes one such arrangement. Here, a cell phone, arranged as a GSM device, is connected to a notebook computer. A server sends a message to the cell phone via a cellular network, notifying the user (of the notebook) that an email is waiting. The cell phone may power up the notebook and the email is downloaded. The cell phone to notebook connection might be wireless, and the email may be a software upgrade. In these cases the cell phone is able to operate under the various protocols that may be involved. The cell phone will be made aware by the notifying message—usually an SMS (short message system) under the GSM standard.
However, in Loughran publication the cell phone is always attached to and functionally a part of the notebook computer acting as a wireless modem I/O device. Both are on using battery power.
Another recent example, U.S. patent application publication No. US2003/0045311 A1 to Larikka et al. (Larikka) similarly describes a cell phone permanently connected to a personal server (computer) via a serial connection, IR, USB or Bluetooth. Again the cell phone is acting as a modem I/O connection between a mobile network, a cellular network, and the personal server. There is a remote server across the Internet connected through a gateway to the mobile network. Larikka is using the system primarily to pass synchronization messages.
As in the Loughran system the cell phone acts as an I/O device to the notebook or personal server, and both are powered on.
In both of the above patent publications, the cell phone is connected to the notebook or personal server which must be connected and powered to down load email or data from the cell phone. The battery power of the laptop is always on and being depleted. Also, since the phone must be connected to the laptop, the phone is not free to travel too far from the laptop. The laptop can be carried, but laptops are quite heavy and not as mobile or convenient compared to a cell phone that can be carried in a shirt pocket.
The above references and others in this field have not realized the advantages of the present inventive hand held messaging system that can be operated as an independent, obviously small, power efficient, client and server for messages, data and other such information. Prior art inventions missed the multi-dimensions performance of the present invention, especially when large amounts of memory are becoming increasingly cheaper and smaller.